It seems quite coincidental that babesiosis, lyme, erlichiosis, West Nile Virus, Equine encephalitis, etc. are very concentrated in the Connecticut/New York area and the islands surrounding Plum Island (the USDA animal disease research lab).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1425908/posts?page=24#24
Shoot! Your keyboard is down. I hope you can mark this and come back when you have a new one. NOTE Coleus' comment about Plum Island. You had done research on that.